32-bit plot. Similar to a 16-bit plot, but somehow
religion is involved.

64-bit plot (Quest 64). See 8-bit
plot.

99. Maximum number of units of any item of type
you can carry, often leading to peculiar situations in which you could carry
99 Potions and 99 Hi-Potions, but not 100 Potions and 0 Hi-Potions.

1000 years. Frequently-occuring date in RPGs.
The evil demon (or demons) shows up every 1000 years, or was sealed by the
Ancients for 1000 years. Why can't they just kill them off permanently?

Ability Loss. Whenever you fight a character
before they join you, they have abilities that they can't use once they actually
join. (see young Rydia, Yuffie, Sonya in Suikoden)

Airship. Every RPG has a flying vehicle, usually
an airship or a flying dragon, which is obtained near the very end of the
game. (although in FF games, you tend to get the airship sooner).

Ambidextrious. All non-polygon characters are
ambidextrious. This is to save time by just flipping the character's image
for both the left and right facings.

Amnesia rule. Whenever there is a good character
with amnesia, they were always a bad guy before they got amnesia. (See Shining
Force II and Lufia). In addition, everybody with amnesia is cured (Exception: FF5)

Ancients, The. Ubiquitous race that vanished
long ago (typically 1000 years ago), but left behind advanced technology.
Usually, however, one of your party members is a female magic-user who is
the last Ancient or a member of some other special race. (Terra, Aerith,
Rydia, Mariel, Eleni in Vandal~Hearts, Asellus, etc.)

Ancient Flying Castle. Generic final
dungeon.

And Behind Door #2... When in you are in a dungeon,
and you come into a room with two doors, you generally want to go through
the door further away from you, as it will have a switch or something that
opens a passage behind the closer door.

Anonymous Hero Rule. Up until recently, the
main character never had a name and you had to enter one. (You can still
usually enter a name, but there's also a default one)

Army rule. No matter how big the armies of both
sides are, the final battle always inevitably comes down to a few chosen
heroes versus a big bad evil monster. Particularly ridiculous in
Suikoden.

Asbestos Rule. If something is burning as part
of the storyline, it will not burn down until whatever you have to do there
is accomplished, yet it stays burning. (See the burning house in FF6 or any
burning town)

Atheist rule. All priests and churches are up
to no good (the same with rich guys). Religions that do not involve priests
and/or churches are ok (Wild Arms) and in fact are always on your side.

Backwards Day. Whenever somebody tells you not
to do something or go someplace, you should.

Beat You To It. Whenever the heroes go to stop
the bad guys from getting something/somewhere, the bad guys are always there
when the heroes arrive at the end, but they apparently didn't have to go
through the dungeon because all the puzzles weren't solved, switches not
flipped, etc.

Block Home Rule #2. Nobody cares if you just
walk into their house and start talking to them as if they were family and
not some strangers with weapons.

Blues Brothers Rule. The heroes are always right,
no matter what they do. Whatever side the heroes are on is the good
side.

Bonus Boss. Feature of many recent RPGs. Extremely
tough boss that you don't have to beat to win the game and is just there
as an added challenge. (Weapons, Elidibs, EarthDragon, ArchMage, Ragu Ragla,
etc.) Usually, you get some really powerful item for winning that isn't at
all useful because if you're tough enough to beat the boss, you don't need
it. (Like the Sherrif Star in Wild Arms or the master materia from the
Weapons)

Broken Bridge. Adjunct to a Fetch Quest. An
obstacle, frequently a broken bridge, prevents you from progressing to the
next town. Once you complete the Fetch Quest, however, the bridge is fixed.
What a coincidence!

Broken Record. Townspeople will continually
repeat the same message over and over, even if you revisit the town later
in the game and the message doesn't make sense anymore. (Exceptions: FF7
and Wild Arms)

Buddy rule. Whenever the hero has a more experienced
buddy or leader, that character always dies, leaving the hero to fend for
themself (Suikoden [Odessa], Phantasy Star IV, etc.).

Building Ordinance. All enemy castles, towers,
etc. are all designed as a maze, which must make it really hard for the people
living in the castle.

Cait Sith's Rule.. Whenever a character permanently
leaves the party (due to death or otherwise), all their items and equipment
are usually returned to you. So named for the absurdity of Cait Sith No.
2 inheriting all of No. 1's experience, equipment, and Materia, even though
No. 1 was crushed in the temple. (Of course, we all know what really
happened to Cait Sith No. 2 ^_^) Very weird in FF8, especially parts when allies seem to be dead but you still can equip and un-equip them (Missile Base)

Call For Help. Annoying enemy move in which
an enemy summons other members of its kind (see Phantasy Star games and Shining
the Holy Ark). Can lead to frusteratingly long battles.

Carrot On A Stick. Most shops have chests behind
the counter. Frusterating as it is, there's no way to reach them.

Chancellor rule. Chancellors or other advisors
to kings are always up to no good.

Charades Law. Whenever a character performs
an action such as handing something to somebody else, they usually hold out
their hand, but you do not actually see the item in question. For example,
when Celes attacks Kefka on the Floating Continent in FF6, her sword cannot
be seen. (Exception: the Zodiac Stones in FF Tactics, some items in FF8)

Chicken In Every Pot. People in games keep stuff
in weird places, i.e. valuable heal potions inside pots, powerful equipment
just sitting around caves in chests, etc.

Clown Car rule. All buildings, towns, vehicles,
etc. appear tiny on the overworld map in relation to your character, but
when you are inside them, they are much bigger.

Clown Car rule #2. All vehicles have infinite
seating capacity. Can all 9 FF7 characters really all fit in the buggy? (Exception: FF8)

Collapsing Castle Law. Major enemy hideouts
(especially the final dungeon) always collapse when you beat the dungeon,
even though there is absolutely no physical force that would cause them to
collapse.

Communist Choice. A situation in a game where
you are presented with a choice, but if you choose one of the choices, you
just have to choose again until you choose the choice the game wants you
to choose. (I did not come up with this term; I don't know who did, but I
claim no credit for it.)

Confidential Information. You can never see
how much HP a boss has -- spells that normally show enemy's HP don't
work. (Exception: Most FFs)

Conservation of Death. In most RPGs, one major
good character dies, but only one (FF4, FF6, Wild Arms, etc.). There are
a few games (Suikoden, for example) where more than one major good character
dies.

Countdown Rule. Whenever you have to escape
from a place within a time limit, the location will blow up / collapse as
soon as you leave, no matter how much time is left on your timer. (See the
Mako No. 1 Reactor, Galbadia Missile Site)

Cowardice Rule. The major bad guys keep running
away, leaving flunkies for you to fight, until you finally fight them near
the end of the game.

Crono's rule. Except in Final Fantasy games,
the main character never talks (unless you are choosing the response), although
other characters react as if the character was talking.

Currency Name Convention. All currencies in
games start with the letter G. (gil, gella, goth, gilder, gold, etc.)

Cute Animal Character. Stereotypical cute and
furry animal character. Usually worthless in battle and just intended for
comedic relief. (the only exception is Peco, who is really powerful in addition
to being extremely cute, and Spekkio, even though he doesn't join you).

Dead or Alive. Characters and enemies can have
1 out of 2500 HP and be perfectly healthy, but as soon as they drop to 0
HP, they suddenly die. (exception: Kartia)

Dekar's Rule. If you don't actually see
a character die (or are explicitly told so by somebody who did), they're
not dead. (Example: Seifer in FF8, Dyne in FF7

Dibs Rule. In most cases, your party are the
only ones trying to save the world. Nobody else ever beats you to it or even
tries. Anybody that is trying to save the world on their own ends up either
joining you, or dying.

Double Agent Rule. Whenever there is a spy for
the bad guys in your party, that spy always up turning good and staying in
your party after being unmasked (see Caet Sith, Kira in Vandal~Hearts, and
Sanchez in Suikoden). Similar to the Party Compulsion
Rule.

Disappearing Act #1. Any overpowering character
that joins your party soon leaves your party for any number of reasons (killed,
is actually a bad guy, etc.)

Disappearing Act #2. Semi-important characters
often vanish near the end of the game. Witness Jane's total disappearance
in Wild Arms after the Sweet Candy sinks, Palmer vanishing after the rocket
launch in FF7, etc.

Dissection Rule. Every game has a boss with
several body parts (head and arms, or several heads), each of which can be
attacked and destroyed separately.

Dolly's Rule. All enemies of the same type are
completely identical clones of each other (you never see a Slime that happens
to be a bit stronger than your average Slime, for example). In addition,
many enemy types closely resemble each other with just a variation in
color. (Exception: FF8)

Dronejam. When annoying townspeople stand in
front of a door or passage and won't move.

Duel boss. Most games have a boss that you have
to find as just the main character.

Eager Beaver Rule. In a 16-bit plot, towns and
people join the rebellion without hesitation and have no fear of the Empire
attacking / killing / destroying them. Exception: Narshe in FF6.

Earthbound Rule. All final bosses have some
special super duper dimension background that you fight in, frequently out
in space. So named because Earthbound has these in every
battle.

Ending rule. All endings are considered poor
by the majority of players.

Ending Song. Lately it has become fashionable
for a song (with actual lyrics) to play during a game's credits. See BOF3,
Xenogears, Castlevania: SOTN, Wild Arms (the Japanese version), Tales of
Destiny, Parasite Eve, etc.

Endless Fount of Items. Stores never run out
of items.

Endurance rule. Both party members and bosses
can survive an incredible amount of damage (shot repeatedly, hit with meteor,
electrocuted by lightning, attacked with 15-hit sword techniques).

Energizer Rule. Lights (torches, campfires,
lamps, whatever) never burn out or run out of electricity -- unless, of course,
the story requires them too.

Equipment Progression Rule. The farther you
get away from the starting point of the game, the better equipment the stores
have. This is true even when there is no reason for it (why does a podunk
place like Icicle Inn have better weapons that Junon?) (Exception: FF8, because of "remodeling")

Evil unleashed. Frequently in a Deja Vu Dungeon,
the hero accidentally unleashes the big bad evil monster, which was sealed
there (this can sometimes be an Unbeatable Boss). The
hero is then sometimes exiled or punished for doing so, but in the end defeats
the monster, and all ends well.

Evil laugh. Most games have a bad guy with a
weird laugh ("Mwah ha ha!", "Gyaa haa haa!" [Heidegger], "Khhk khhk khhk!"
[Alhazad], etc.). Of course, none of them can beat Kefka. Click here for a large list.

Fake King Plot. Oldest RPG subplot known. A
town has a fake king that is really a monster, while the real king is imprisoned.
Sure signs you're dealing with a Fake King Plot are messages like "The king
has been acting strange lately" or "The king hasn't been himself since ...".
References to this plot have even been found in primitive cave paintings.

Female Healers. The second character you get for most of the game is almost always female, a healer of some sort, romantically involved with the main character, or all of the above. (Examples: Tia(Lufia 2), Young Rydia(FF4), Mint(Tales of Phantasia), Nina(Breath of Fire 1), Marle(Chrono Trigger), Kid(Chrono Cross), and lots more)

Female Only Towns.Female only towns that hate men. Not only are these in
many RPGs, they somehow manage to sustain throughout many
generations...that's just wrong. And why aren't there male only towns?

Glass Ceiling of Magic. Most (but not all) female
characters are magic-users.

Gratuitous Flashback Sequence. The name says
it all. Especially annoying because these are usually extremely linear, change
scenes frequently, and have no fighting.

Graveyard Rule. All graveyards have a secret
passage revealed by pushing one of the tombstones.

Graveyard Rule #2.All graveyards with tombstones you can examine has a hidden
message from the programmer somewhere, usually about something being dead that shouldn't.

Greeter Guys. Town/castle NPCs who have no purpose except to say "Welcome to ______!" (EVERY RPG KNOWN TO MAN)

Groundhog Day Rule. Townspeople remain in the
same place, doing the same thing, the whole game. (Exception: FF8)

Hands Off rule. Nobody ever opens chests except
you. In rare occasions, another important character will open them. (like
when Locke opens all the chests in the Phoenix Cave)

Heat-Seeking Magic. Magic never misses. In addition,
it will never harm people on your side (even if a huge tidal wave just swept
across the battlefield, only the opposing side is damaged). (Exception: FF6's Merton)

Hometown rule. The hero's hometown, or other
town where you start, is usually destroyed, or the hero is somehow otherwise
prevented from returning (being exiled in Secret of Mana, FF7, or Wild Arms,
for example).

How Many People You Got In There? In the majority
of RPGs, only the main character is seen walking around. When an important
event appears, the other characters come out of the main
character.

HP Imbalance. The enemies always have far more
HP than your characters do, but inflict less damage than your party does,
so it all comes out even. I guess they don't want your party's HP numbers
to get too big...

HP Imbalance #2.If you fight someone who joins your party, they always
have way more HP when you fight them than they do when they join you. (Magus
from CT is the most glaring example)

Inn Inflation Rule. Each inn in the game gets
progressively more expensive for no logical reason.

Inn rule. Whenever the characters go to the
inn without you controlling them, something important happens during the
night (such as a Nighttime Chat).

Inn Accomodation Rule. There is always vacany
at any inn. The inns apparently reserve a room for the party just in case
they happen to show up.

Invisible Guardrail. Except in action-RPGs,
you can never walk off a pit or into water. You can only walk off ledges
in certain circumstances, when there is a need for you to be able to jump
off ledges.

Item Duplication. Almost every recent RPG has
had a glitch that lets you duplicate items. (FF7, Wild Arms, FF Tactics,
etc.)

It's All In the Family.Heroes often have a parent/grandparent/ancestor, almost always male, who was a hero as well.
(Examples: Lufia 1/Nameless Redhead(Maxim), FF5/Butz(father), Tales of Phantasia/Cless(Miguel), and even the starter of many cliches, Dragon Warrior/Noname hero(Erdrick))

It's A Small World After All. If you think about
it, most RPGs take place in an incredibly tiny world with only a few cities
and a surface area less than the moon. The same applies for towns -- they
have about six houses, tops.

Kain (or Kane). Most common name in RPGs. Used
in: FF4, Shining Force 1, Phantasy Star 2, Vandal~Hearts, Persona, Xenogears,
Legacy of Kain (duh), and the old Sega Master System game Spellcaster.

King's Treasure Room. After you somehow help
a king, he gives you access to his entire treasure room and lets you just
loot the place -- which is weird on its own, but gets weirder when all these
kingdoms have in their treasure room is a couple of herbs, a sword, and some
money.

Kleptomaniac Rule. In most games, you can just
walk into houses and loot people's cabinets, chests, and pots; and nobody
cares, even though they are standing right in the room as you are ripping
them off.

Last Moment. The heroes always arrive just as
the bad guys are about to execute their plan. The bad guys always wait patiently
for the heroes to arrive, even if you go off and spend several days building
up levels.

Law of Foreshadowing. Whenever there is any
mention that a character might die, that character always does. (for example,
Gremio in Suikoden; there are some other examples I can't think of right
now). In general, whenever there is a hint that something might happen or
be true, it always happens or is true.

Law of Geometric Impossibility. All RPG world
maps wrap around on both sides of the map (east/west and north/south).
This is physically impossible. (In FF8, though, the map seems to work in two different ways)

Law of Sequels. In most RPG series (Suikoden
and Arc the Lad excepted, Final Fantasies and Chrono's), each sequel has nothing to do with any of the
previous games, but a few characters and locations inexplicably appear in
every game in the series.

Law of Unnecessary Stealth. Your characters
often have to sneak into some bad guy headquarters, even though they are
powerful enough to just walk in the front gate and slaughter anybody in their
way.

Laws of Monarchy. There are never ever queens
in games, nor are there any princes (okay, okay, besides in FF4). Any princess
in a game is always important to the storyline.

Laws of Parents. Similar to the Laws of Monarchy.
The only living parent of male characters is the mother; for female characters,
only the father is living. See FF7 (Cloud's mother is living, but not his
father; Tifa's and Yuffie's father are seen but not their mothers) or Chrono
Trigger (Crono's and Magus's fathers are never mentioned, Marle's mother
is dead).

Laws of Programming. Programmers do not want
to expend extra effort on characters and artwork that aren't essential to
the game. Thus, any character that joins your party for any length of time
(in a game where you can choose which characters you want to use) is not
going to die, because the artists don't want to spend time on a character
that isn't going to be used much (FF7 is a notable exception here). Also,
any character (such as Mina in BOF2) with their own unique sprite is important,
even if it doesn't seem like it at the time, because otherwise the artists
would not waste their time drawing a different sprite.

Legendary Sword. Obligatory weapon that can
only be drawn by the hero. Needed to kill the big bad evil demon.

Leo's rule. Any bad guy that turns good dies,
except for characters (Kain, Magus, the generals in Suikoden, Edea) that were possessed
by or under the control of one of the truly evil characters.

Leo's rule #2. No rumor is ever true. (Exception: Pokemon)

Leo's rule #3. All characters named Leo die.
(FF6, SoulBlazer, Y's IV). Okay, EXCEPT for the one in Lunar.

Level Equality Law. All characters join the
party at a level about equal to what the rest of the party is at, regardless
of how much training they have. Occasionally, though, you get a character
who starts at level 1 and must be brought up to a normal level.

Life's A Sport... Mad scientists to turn themselves
into a monster (by drinking something or injecting something into themsleves)
when you fight them (see Cort in BOF1, Hojo in FF7, Palet in BOF3, etc.)

Little Shop of Horrors. RPGs are frequently
populated by plants that wander around and attack people. This is not common
in the real world.

Locked Door Rule. To open any locked door, you
must have the key. You can never just break the door down, despite
having spells that could take out a small village.

Lost Kid Plot.Fetch Quest
plot second-most common to the Fake King Plot. A kid from the village has
gotten lost in the cave. Go find him.

Lunar Rule. Every cliche has an exception. (So
named because of all the messages I got telling me that the Leo in Lunar
didn't die)

Main character. With the exception of Suikoden
(uh, and Mario RPG), the main character invariably wields a sword. A large
majority of main characters also have spiky hair, generally blue.

Main Character Intermission. Segment of a game,
usually about 3/4s of the way through, in which the main character leaves
the party briefly due to some physical ailment (dead, missing arm, Mako
poisoning, etc.), leaving the other party members to take over. Occurs only
in recent games.

Malak's Rule. Every RPG has at least one completely
useless character.

Max's Rule. Characters carry their weapons in
an invisible space until battle comes, then they appear out of nowhere without
being drawned (exceptions: Chrono Trigger and BOF3). So named for Sam and
Max's Max, who pulls out of gun out of nowhere.

Metal Babble Rule. Monster with a very high
defense (you can usually only take 1 HP off it with each hit) that runs after
a few turns. Difficult to kill, but you get a lot of experience if you do.
So named for the first such monster, in Dragon Quest. Other examples include
Cores (Lufia 2), Gold Eggs (BOF3), Movers and Sabotenders (FF), and Acid
Bunnies (Wild Arms).

Missing Family Member Rule. Most main characters
must have a dead or lost family member.

Mithril. Usually, you have to find some sort
of rare or precious mineral (generally mithril) to repair or upgrade
something.

Moebius Rule. Most RPGs have exactly one major
plot twist.

Monster Money. For some reason, all monsters
carry money to give you after battle, even though wolves, slimes, dragons,
etc. have absolutely no use for money. (Exception: FF8)

Monster Progression Rule. All monsters gradually
get tougher as you go through the game, no matter what circumstances would
normally lead them to be otherwise. (i.e, if you go into a flashback, the
monsters will be stronger there, which makes no sense)

Mother of All Cliches, the. In every single
RPG, without exception, you are trying to save the world.

Grandmother of All Cliches, the. In absolutely
every single RPG (except BOF3), you are trying to defeat a bad guy.

Natural Ability. All party members are already
trained fighters and/or magic users, even when there is no reason for them
to be so. (look at Chrono Trigger... why does Crono, who's just some random
kid, be a trained swordsman? Why would the princess know how to use a bow?
etc.)

Nomad Rule. Parties never get tired, no matter
how far you walk on the map or in a dungeon.

NRA Law. No guns ever run out of ammo. Even
in SaGa Frontier, where guns have ammo, they magically reload after
battle. (Exception: FF8's Irvine's Limit Break)

Null and Void. Most enemies that can inflict
some kind of status change (poison, silence, etc.) usually drop the item
that cures that change (antidote, echo screen, whatever) when killed.

Numerical Rationialization. All damage inflicted
can be expressed as a number, which helpfully appear over the target's
head.

Obligatory Dungeons. Every game has a mountain,
at least one cave, some type of icy dungeon, a tower, a castle, a high-tech
dungeon, a forest, and a shrine. Most have volcanoes.

Obligatory Status Changes. All RPGs have the
following status changes: poison, blindness, sleep, confusion, and
paralysis.

Obligatory Tool Rule. Every action-RPG, or game
with action-RPG style puzzles (like Wild Arms or Lufia 2), has bombs and
a hookshot.

Obstacle Course Rule. Simple objects such as
pots and chairs serve as major obstacles, forcing you to walk around them,
rather than just step over them.

Old Guy Rule. All old men are powerful
magic-users.

Ominous Ring of Land. Any ring of land has something
evil (usually the Ancient Flying Castle) underwater inside (Lufia, Actraiser,
Wild Arms). Said rings of land frequently do not appear on the map (as in
Wild Arms).

Pawn Shop Rule. If you sell something to a shop
that the shop doens't normally stock, there is no way to buy the item back,
even though the shopkeeper still has it.

Poison/Poison Swamp Law. Characters can walk thousands of steps through poison swamps (and other "danger" areas), or with the poison condition, and linger at 1hp, but never
die. (examples would be in most of the FF series, Chrono Cross)

Potty Emergency. Aside from BOF2 and Vector
in FF6, there are no toilets or bathrooms in games.

Preview Rule. In games where you can name all
the characters, you can tell that a character will join you by the fact that
you get to name them when they first appear. (Like in FF6... you meet Shadow
in South Figaro, he doesn't join you, but you get to name him so you know
he joins later)

Primary Elements. All games have fire, ice,
and lightning as elements.

Prison Rescue. Whenever the party is thrown
in prison, somebody immediately shows up to rescue them.

Prison Rule #2. When you're thrown in prison,
your captors never bother to take your weapons and other equipment. (exception:
Tales of Phantasia)

Prophecy, the. Your heroes are usually prophecied
to save the world, sometimes by some old guy who shows up in the game to
give you advice.

Punctuation. RPG characters have the unique
ability to pronounce punctuation marks, as in "....", "...!", or "???".

Pyrotechnics Rule. All bosses have extra-spiffy
death effects that normal monsters are not worthy enough to have.

Rambo Rule. Having a higher Strength statistic
increases the amount of damage guns do (exception: Chrono Trigger). This
makes no sense whatsoever.

Randomly Drops. Words every gamer dreads. Means
you have to spend countless hours fighting an enemy over and over so it will
drop the super-duper piece of equipment that you have a 1 in 127 chance in
getting. See FF4, Earthbound, and the BOF games.

Rebellious Princess. Stereotypical character
in many RPGs. Rebellious princess escapes from castle and joins party (Marle,
Cecilia, Nina, etc.).

Repeating Boss. Many games have a boss that
you fight over and over again throughout the game (FF7: the Turks, Wild Arms:
Boomerang and Zed, Mario RPG: Croco, FF6: Ultros, etc.).

Reject Room. Any RPG where you can switch characters
has a room where all the unused characters hang out and demand to be added
to the party.

Resale Anomaly. Really strong/rare items usually
have a resale value of 1 for some reason (perhaps to dissuade you from selling
them).

Revival Law. Logical loophole that allows you
to revive dead characters in battle with items and magic, but keeps characters
dead that are killed for plot purposes. (Exception: In Final Fantasy 5, Galuf is killed, but it makes sense. He fights Exdeath, going way beyond unconsciousness, being stuck at 0 hp most the time but still able to fight. After he's spent, the party tries using revival items and spells on him, but his spirit is too lost for them to work. This is -the- only game I know of which explains the Revival Law, and they did it perfectly, imo. -- Minami)See also Soft-Hard
Rule.

Right-Hand Man rule. Whenever the Emperor in
a 16-bit plot has a "right-hand man" character, that
character always kills the Emperor (or helps you kill the Emperor) and ends
up being the final boss. Frequently, the Emperor just wants to rule the world,
but the "right-hand man" character wants to destroy the world. (See Secret
of Mana, FF6, FF7, Breath of Fire 1, Wild Arms, etc.). Probably the most
common cliche; just about every game uses it.

Ross Perot Rule. When you defeat a major boss
(one that's a character) in battle, it will usually disappear, but once you're
back in the normal non-fight screen, the boss will reappear and start
talking.

Roster Rule. The manual always lists all the
playable characters, thus spoiling any surprise as to who joins your
party. (Exception: FF8)

Second Fiddle Rule. The obligatory Legendary
Sword is never the strongest weapon; there's always another sword that's
stronger. (Goo King Sword is stronger than Dragon Sword in BOF3, Ragnarok
is stronger than Excalibur in the FF games, etc.)

Self-Awareness Rule. In totally dark rooms,
you can always see yourself perfectly. This is not true in real life.

Self Help Booklet. Sequence right before the
final boss (sometimes occurs elsewhere in addition) in which every character
proclaims their reason for fighting against evil and what they've learned
on their journey in an excess of melodrama. Named after Kefka's awesome "This
is pathetic! You sound like chapters from a self help booklet! Prepare
yourselves!" line in FF6 after such a sequence.

Setzer's rule. Any character with a carefree
attitude has a tragic event in their background (see also Locke, Jack, and
Gen).

Shadowboxing Rule. In the majority of RPGs,
characters fight by simply swinging their weapons in the air and not coming
at all close the enemies. (This is not true for games with polygonal
battles or Chrono Trigger)

Share and Share Alike. All items carried by
your party (except in Earthbound) are carried in some sort of void that can
be accessed by any member of your party no matter how spread out your party
is.

Shooting Blanks. Guns are always weaker than
swords.

Side Quest Rule. There are never any side quests
until near the very end of the game, when a whole bunch of them appear. (See
Wild Arms, FF7, FF Tactics, Tactics Ogre...)

Size Doesn't Matter. Characters can perform
martial arts moves on enemies many times larger than they are. Want to have
Sabin do a suplex on a train? No problem!

Slime. The easiest enemy in most RPGs is some
type of slime.

Smokey's Rule. Fire spells do not start fires;
they can be used in thick forests with no repercussions. (Exception: Kartia
and Bahamut Lagoon)

Sound Sleeper. Characters put to sleep during
battle can sleep through the various sounds of battles, including meteor
strikes, summoned dragons, exploding bombs, and never wake up -- not to mention
being actually attacked and not waking up. In addition, almost all RPG characters
either sleep kneeling or standing up. (Chrono Trigger is the only game where
your characters actually lay down when they're put to sleep)

Sudden Growth. Until recently, all bad guys
would always grow much larger or transform into a different form when you
fought them. In most recent games (FF7, Chrono Trigger, Wild Arms, Suikoden, FF8),
however, this is not the case, except on the final boss.

Swiss Cheese Room. Common type of dungeon room
in which there are many pits. Falling in one puts you in a large, emtpy,
room with a single staircase that leads back up to the room with all the
pits.

Symmetric Building Law. Almost all castles in
games are symmetric, and most towns are as well.

Telepathy Rule. Whenever you are giving permission
to go through a pass / gate / whatever, you can go there immediately and
they know to let you through, even though you just got permission a minute
ago.

Tellah's rule. Old men usually get killed (Tellah,
Bugenhagen, Galuf, etc.)

Temporal Battle Shift. Whenever encountering
an unfriendly personage, one usually experiences a psychedelic effect, followed
by a transition to a background that does not match where you are standing.
(Exceptions: BOF3 and Chrono Trigger)

Titanic rule. Whenever the characters get on
a ship, it sinks. The exception is ships that you control, but even these
sink frequently.

Training Rule. It used to be that every RPG
had a room / building with people that told you how to play the game
(Earthbounds, all the FFs, etc.). Now only appears only rarely.

True Form. The final boss always has several
forms (usually three) that you fight in sequence. The transformation is often
accompanied by a message like "______ reveals his true form!"

Typical Bad Guy Cut Scene.A scene where the Main Bad Guy is in a room with four lesser bad guys. He tells weakest of the lesser bad guys to kill the only threat to his plans. Weakest fails, of course, so the second weakest is sent out. Repeat until all four are dead, then all four are revived around the end. The third bad guy is almost always the only female one. Slight variations may apply. (Secret of Stars, Final Fantasy 4, Magic Knight Rayearth)

Universal System Rule. All game worlds (er,
except Evermore) have a universal currency system, and a universal language
(except FF1). This is despite most worlds having lost cities, remote elf
villages, warring kingdoms, obscure islands, etc.

Untamed Wilderness Rule. There are never any
roads (paved or otherwise) between towns, even in games like FF7 where you
would expect there to be. (Exception: FF8)

Underwater Vacancy Rule. In games with submarines,
there is almost nothing of note underwater. (See FF7 and Lufia 2). Usually
there is just a cave or two, and a place where you have to dive to get under
some shoals.

Vegas Law: Many games have a place for you to
gamble away your money (Suikoden, Final Fantasy 7, Lufia 2). Most of these
gambling games require no skill, but a very few of them do. They are also
usually impossible to win, and/or the prizes cost so many "coins" that you
could never afford them.

Vehicle Progression Law. Each new vehicle you
get allows you to get to some new place which the designers didn't want you
to go to before. Used to force you to visit locations in the right
sequence.

Venus Rule. It is eternally daytime in games
(BOF1+2 excepted), which is weird enough, but it also will suddenly become
nighttime during certain scenes. (Exception: Zelda 64)
(so named because one day on Venus is as long as 118 Earth days)

Villainous Disbelief Law. When defeated, all
major bad guys are amazed that you beat them and usually make some remark
along the lines of "You're stronger than I thought."

Wandering Mercenary. Another stereotypical character
in almost every RPG. A wandering ninja or mercenary that is helping the party,
but doesn't really care about what they are fighting for. Frequently a popular
character. (see Shadow, Magus, Boomerang, etc.). Usually wants revenge on
one of the main bad guys (as in Magus or Vincent's case), and rarely
talks.

Warm-up Battle. Rather than just have you wander
around town talking to people, many games start with a really easy dungeon
or battle (sometimes a Deja Vu Dungeon). See the bombing
mission in FF7, attack on Narshe in FF6, opening battle against Zoot in
Vandal~Hearts.

Waterfall Rule. All waterfalls have caves behind
them.

Weapon Specialization Rule. Each character is
very limited in the type of weapons they can use (except in the SaGa games and FF games with Jobs),
usually only having one type (swords, axes, staffs, etc.) that they can
use.

Wild Goose Chase. Annoying part in RPGs where
you have to chase some character (sometimes a villain, sometimes an ally)
around the globe, being informed you "just missed" the person at every stop.
FF7 is the biggest offender here.